As the county struggles to maintain services and offices, members of the Franklin County Board budget committee are applying pencils to paper.
Budget hearings began Wednesday morning and continue through Friday afternoon as work to decrease the Fiscal Year 2011 budget progresses. One by one, department heads are meeting with committee members, lowering budget lines by 15 percent in some cases.
Leaving no stone unturned, county treasurer John Gulley said he would rather cut budget lines than cut employees.
Board chairman Randall Crocker questioned Gulley's suggested reductions in some cases, saying agencies that depend on county funding should continue to receive "a fair amount."
Zoning in on funding to the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission, Gulley said board members could consider reducing the amount of funding through the general county's fund.
"The amount of funding is based on population," he said.
Crocker said the funding should continue based on past performance.
"The agency's executive director Ike Kirkikis worked a lot on the Enterprise Zone extension," he said. "I think we need to continue to fund the agency because it is vital to the county. Whether we are getting our fair amount is questionable."
Member Ken Hungate suggested a funding reduction to both Greater Egypt and the Franklin County Regional Economic Development Corporation.
"We could still support both entities, but we currently have $25,000 tied up in that support," he said.
Gulley said $13,050 was given to FREDCO during last year's budget hearings — a reduction from the $15,000 requested.
Hungate said the 15-percent budget reductions should "be cut across the board."
Member Jim McPhail suggested that the County Board invite FREDCO to make a presentation to determine their funding needs.
Members also looked at their own salary lines. Crocker said the county board could set salaries every 10 years.
"All nine of us will be running in another two years," he said. "After reviewing the salary survey, it looks like we are a little on the high side as compared to other counties."
Discussing the county board's administrative assistant position, members decided not to make a change.
Members determined a reduction from $2,500 to $1,500 for advertising and printing would be sufficient for the next fiscal year but discussed an increase in the building improvements' budget line.
County board building and grounds co-chair David Rea said judges had asked him about the possibility of painting the courtrooms.
"The judges said the courtrooms need to be painted," he said. "This is an old building and we have to maintain it."
Rea said $5,000 had been budgeted for the annex roof, adding that the roofs on the annex and courthouse were in good shape.
His concerns remain with the aging air conditioning equipment that continues to fail. He said it would cost approximately $21,000 to replace one of the units.
Gulley suggested reducing the polling place improvements' budget line to zero, saying no money had been spent from that line item in the past three years.
Members also discussed weeding out the weed commissioner's salary, effective Dec. 1 when the current weed commissioner retires.
Crocker said Rend Lake Conservancy District representative and the county's recycling director Keith Ward had volunteered to go to school to obtain a license to serve as weed commissioner. Gulley said state law requires Johnson grass weed control and not necessarily a weed commissioner position.
Members scrutinized the janitorial budget line with suggestions aplenty.
Finance committee Chair Linda Clark said the budget should be reduced. Crocker said the janitorial service is one of the county's highest line items. He suggested hiring two full-time people to work inside the courthouse and annex on different shift schedules. Crocker said one employee could start work at noon, with the other beginning after the county offices have closed for the day.
Rea said it is important to keep up the image of the courthouse and annex, adding that restrooms are often neglected during the day.
Discussing the county treasurer's office, Gulley said he had eliminated his part-time personnel budget because it was unused.
"I switched telephone service, which saves me about $100 a month," he said.
He said the printing budget line in his office should remain the same adding that the money is used in printing real estate tax bills.
He discussed the possibility of laminating aging records in-house, saying it could create a full-time position.
Gulley said he spent $1,000 to have two books of property tax records laminated during the past fiscal year. He said the county could save money by purchasing laminating equipment to preserve the county's records.
"I have books going back to 1880," he said. "The oldest records were restored last year."
Gulley expressed concern with the real estate tax levy, saying the fund should be increased by $150,000.
"The tax levy was $665,000 last year," he said. "By having the county highway department along with other departments pay their own fringe benefits, we will be able to levy less and bump it up to at least $850,000."
He fears a decrease in sales tax revenue, projecting a decrease from $267,000 to $220,000 for FY 2011.
Gulley also expressed concern in Juvenile Detention Center reimbursements from the state saying the county carries the detention center nine or 10 months out of the year.
"I have said all along that the detention center makes a profit; that's not the issue," he said. "It is a matter of cash flow. If we cash flow the Juvenile Detention Center, they wouldn't make it a year.
"Franklin County pays to send our juveniles to the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center," Gulley said. "They get a paper check with my signature on it. We operate the facility for six months without getting a reimbursement from the state at all. If you take the same snapshot on Nov. 30, the day before the new fiscal year begins, it shows that the detention center makes a profit."
He said the state income tax revenue is the largest budget line item.
"The state is incredibly behind in sending payments to the counties," Gulley said. "We are supposed to receive $1.2 million in state income tax revenue. I don't believe we will get it. We were getting a check once a month. Now we are getting checks every three months.
"I looked at it today," he said. "Eight months into the year, I came up with $671,000 owed. That is based on population. Ten percent of the income tax collected is distributed back to the counties but that amount is not based on the county's 40,000 population. It is only based on about 12,000 in population, which is the population of our unincorporated areas. Each of the communities also receives state income tax."
On the plus side, Gulley anticipates the personal property replacement tax to increase from $196,000 to $239,500 during the next fiscal year.
He is also concerned about salary reimbursements for the state's attorney, supervisor of assessments and public defender. Gulley said the state has reduced the amount it reimburses the counties for these officials. He said the county would receive 40 percent of the regular reimbursement.
